DENVER – And so, long after declaring that NHL head-coaching experience would be a prerequisite for getting the Islander position, Mike Milbury changed his mind.

As Roberto Luongo and Eric Brewer might say, what a surprise.

We’re not going to pile on Peter Laviolette here. We don’t know the man. He could evolve into the league’s next young, bright leader. But we are somewhat leery of an assistant coach who is less than supportive of the head man and instead does the GM’s bidding, as was the case in Boston when Laviolette appeared to report to Mike O’Connell rather than Mike Keenan.

For the sake of the franchise’s future on Long Island, we hope that Laviolette was hired for the right reasons, not because he’s pliable, and not, for goodness sakes, because he hails from the wildly successful Boston organization. We hope that it was Milbury’s choice, and not that of his sidekick-for-life, Gord Clark.

Whatever the case, we can tell you that the Islanders fully intend to implement their threat of banning players for the year who are not under contract by the first day of training camp. We can tell you that because we’ve learned that’s exactly what Charles Wang told Bryan Murray, hired Friday by Anaheim, during Murray’s interview with the Islander owner and ultimate authority.

This might not be the best way to approach, say, Alexei Yashin, if the Islanders are successful in prying the Group II free agent out of Ottawa in exchange for a package that would include the second-overall pick in the Entry Draft.

Milbury has said that he sees a lot of himself in Laviolette. We’d suggest the organization refrain from using that as its theme in the summer marketing and season-ticket sales programs.

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THE Red Wings, for all intents and purposes, announced Scotty Bowman’s return behind the bench late last week. Didn’t see it? Sure you did, when GM Kenny Holland announced that the team had signed 34-year-old defenseman Fredrik Olausson and had re-signed Igor Larionov to a new deal.

Red Wings, among the handful of teams with preliminary interest in Jaromir Jagr, are also keenly interested in Eric Lindros. No. 88, you should know, has an important ally in Steve Yzerman. In fact, Slap Shots has learned that Lindros phoned Yzerman just a couple of days before the trade deadline hoping that the captain would plead his case to upper management.

There couldn’t be a clearer indication of the financial duress under which the Penguins operate than the team’s decision to retain head coach Ivan Hlinka, a man few in the room respect. The sad fact of the matter is that Mario Lemieux simply cannot afford to pay Hlinka the $700,000 he’s owed for next year not to work.

While most of the Penguins failed to compete to any meaningful degree against the Devils – nice of Martin Straka to show up for Game 5, wasn’t it, and while we’re at it, have you ever seen Alexei Kovalev play more poorly or with so little enthusiasm in either the playoffs or against the Devils? – Bob Boughner sure increased his value on the unrestricted market with a hard-hat series.

The choice for the Rangers in the unrestricted tough-depth defenseman category will likely pare down to Boughner or Edmonton’s Igor Ulanov, obtained last year by Glen Sather, and who will not be offered a new contract by the Oilers.

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RARELY has a defeated semifinalist been in the immediate turmoil that now engulfs the Blues. Keith Tkachuk, leased specifically for the playoffs, was ineffective against Colorado. While management considers wheeling his $8.3 million obligation – the Flyers will listen – we’re told that the power winger failed to ingratiate himself with a number of his teammates.

At the same time, Roman Turek, who seemed to show about an hour late for each game against Colorado, has worn out his welcome in St. Louis. Then, too, the feeling is mutual. The Blues are expected to investigate Dominik Hasek – whose meeting with the Sabres in which he will ask to be granted free agency is now scheduled for late this week – and may even take a run at Patrick Roy.

And maybe someone can explain why the team seems to willing to let Pierre Turgeon, their only playmaker, go to free agency.

Meanwhile, Chris Pronger didn’t exactly dominate against the Avalanche, did he? Maybe his knee wasn’t right, because he certainly wasn’t.

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AND rarely has a star fallen faster in the weeks leading up to the Entry Draft than Jason Spezza’s. Numerous team player personnel people and agents have told Slap Shots that the Windsor center, ranked most of the year 1/1A with Ilya Kovalchuk, the now-clear first choice, may in fact slip out of the top five or six. The consensus seems to be that Spezza lacks consistent competitive fire; most handy comparison we’ve heard is to Boston’s Jason Allison.

Milbury, whom we’re told was devastated by losing the first-overall pick in the lottery drawing, has no interest whatsoever in Spezza. The GM apparently isn’t ready to invest the selection in Russia’s dynamic winger Stanislav Tchistov, who, at 5-10, has been likened to Paul Kariya and Pavel Bure.

Of course, if he can’t trade the pick, there’s always Kootenay’s Don Blackburn or Halifax’s Pascal Leclaire, each projected as a franchise, uh, goaltender.

The Rangers, who at No. 10 only need everything, might have one of the goaltenders slide into their laps.

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FINALLY, Milbury says that Blackburn and Leclaire both handle the puck better than Rick DiPietro, right now!